Locative enclitics in Cuwabo

Abstract

This paper provides a detailed description of the three locative enclitics = vo, = wo and = mo found in Cuwabo verbs (Mozambique, Bantu P34). I first present the basic function of these morphemes, typically used to pronominalise a locative argument of the verb (anaphoric relations), and then proceed with a thorough discussion of their morphophonological, syntactic and semantic properties. In terms of morphophonological status, I argue that these locative morphemes are necessarily attached to the verb and I show how they may interact with other post-final verbal elements. Second, I discuss the syntactic properties of the locative clitics as compared with object prefixes, and identify different criteria which may serve as a diagnostic for deciding whether they qualify as pronominal or doubling clitics. I then show how locative enclitics developed semantically and acquired several non-locative functions (existentials, partitive and comparative). Finally, I address some cases whereby the locative clitic has no transparent meaning and is best considered as lexicalised.

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